The Road Ahead
by Mchovey
Summary: After Shadow and Sonic started their relationship, they thought the hard times were over. But, as with all relationships you're going to have some disagreements. It doesn’t help that Eggman decides to come back around the time the literal power couple needs to sort things out. War is stressful enough but can love heal the wounds or will the pressure tear them apart. Sonadow
1. Of Love and Lost

sequel to "Just Being Us" I don't think i'm going to have a set schedule with this story. When I finish a chapter; I finish a chapter. i'll try not to take too long though :) Also if you enjoy this series please check out my other story, "Me and The Boys: a team dark story" i've been working on that one as well and will probably interchange which story I work on from week to week.Thank you as always.Please leave a comment and tell me your thoughts or any critiques.

...

Ch 1. Of Love and Lost

The sun was rising early in the morning over a cute, beach side cottage. The ocean breeze that wafted in from the waves just outside, kissed the nose of a mischievous blue hedgehog as he stood out in the hallway that led to his shared room. Sonic snickered to himself and gained a running start as he hurtled himself toward the open door. The male leaped into the air and crashed down onto the bed below him. He landed directly on a shape in the covers concealing a familiar black and red lump. Sonic's attempted hog-pile was not met however, because the lump underneath had been ready. Shadow Chaos controlled under the blanket a foot to the right, catching Sonic off guard. The dark male then revealed himself while the blue one was down and wrapped his arms around his love. They wrestled each other for a bit before Sonic admitted that Shadow in fact was stronger than him,

"Alright I give, I give!"

Shadow collapsed on to Sonic putting his full weight on the helpless hog. Sonic flailed his arms and legs while making muffled cries for help. Shadow propped himself up on his elbows and stared lovingly into his lover's emerald eyes; Sonic gasped for air dramatically. Once the blue hog had finish pretending to catch his breath, the hedgehog above him planted a kiss on the blue one's mouth. They continued to silently give each other pecks for about a minute until Sonic spoke,

"I'm gonna grab some breakfast then go for a run, you want to join?"

This had become their routine. Either Sonic or Shadow would wake up first and then they would wake the other up in various cute, silly, or romantic ways. Then they would go for a morning run if Shadow was free. Typically, it was Shadow who woke first, but not as of late. Shadow had been pulling all-nighters recently. Commander Topaz had asked for his assistance in an investigation regarding Eggman's next move. The dark agent could decline, but he trusted Topaz's judgement on the matter, even if she was unintentionally running him ragged. She did have good reason to be concerned however. The Dr. had not been seen or heard of in over a year. Sonic had said that maybe egghead had finally retired, but even he knew that was unlikely. Shadow was about to answer the question but suddenly his wrist started to beep. Shadow looked at his communication watch and then groaned,

"I'm sorry Sonic. Topaz says that they have an eye witnesses claiming to have seen Eggman near the city."

Sonic frowned,

"Come on! You got home last night around two in the morning and it was only a false alarm. She is sending you out on wild goose chases."

Shadow kissed Sonic one last time before speaking,

"Oh hush. She thinks we need to be prepared and so do I. besides Eggman's activity has picked up even if no one has seen him in person. He has even taken to hiring mercenaries for some reason."

"Who would willingly work for Eggman in the first place, just for money?" Sonic added rolling his eyes.

"Pathetic wastes of life, that's who."

Sonic laughed,

"Yeah well, either way you're a worry wart, you told me you kicked those guys butts worse than the robots. If it happens, its going to happen whether, we like it or not."

Another set of beeps rang out,

"Shit, she wants me in ASAP. This must be important."

Shadow jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom leaving Sonic alone laying on his back.

"Sonic. What did I tell you about leaving the lid off the mouth wash," a disgruntled hedgehog said as he wiped liquid from his drenched night shirt, "and you left the light on in the bathroom too."

Sonic took a bite of his breakfast chili dog that he had heated up in the microwave and gave an apologetic look,

"I'm sorry, Shads."

"Sonic you say you're sorry every time but you don't do anything to make it better." Shadow said rushing to throw the old garment in the laundry as his comm watch was beeping mercilessly with new messages, "You can add mouth wash to the grocery list."

"Shadow it's just a little spill, chill."

"It's a spill today; tomorrow you'll leave your dinner plate out over night with the window down and we will have bugs again."

Sonic rolled his eyes,

"That was one time."

Shadow pulled out a box of cereal and then went to the fridge,

"Where is the milk?"

"The milk?"

"Yes, the milk I asked you to pick up yesterday... That you said was no problem."

Sonic looked sheepishly to the side,

"Oh um. You see I went to go get it but I got a little... side tract."

"Is that why you came home with all those horrible tasting sodas?"

"Yeah, you see I saw a video about people taste testing weird sodas and guessing what the flavor was, and it looked interesting, so I thought I'd try it..."

"Sonic!", the hog paused his thought and looked at the interruption, "Did you take your medicine.

Sonic's normally jovial expression turned to a frown,

"You know, just because I do something like that doesn't automatically mean I haven't taken it. And I would appreciate it if you didn't act like I'm some child that needs looking after."

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose,

"I would not need to if you didn't act like one."

"Oh? And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The comm watch went off again causing Shadow to huff, annoyed by the tiny device,

"It means, that it seems like I'm the only responsible one around here."

Sonic put his hands on his hips as his tail twitched back and forth in anger,

"Look you need to chill; you knew what you were signing up for when you decided to date me. I try really hard for you. I know I'm annoying and impulsive, but you already knew that. I think you're mad because you've been paranoid about egghead's shady business for the past week and it been eating away at you, so you're taking it out on me."

Shadow growled. He hated when Sonic was sort of right. They had been getting thousands of tips from people, to the activity of the good old doctor and it was stressing Shadow out. The watch alerted him again and this time Shadow looked at the message.

"That still doesn't mean you're in the right."

"Well neither are you. Gods! Why are you so stubborn when you're mad?"

"I... Sonic, that is like the pot calling the kettle black. Whatever, I don't have time for breakfast anyway."

Sonic threw his arms in the air and then went to strap on his shoes. Shadow watched as the blue hero opened the door,

"I'm going for a run, when you cool your jets and actual want to talk like we usually do, I'll be in Green Hill."

"You're going alone? But Eggman…"

"Yeah, I can take care of myself contrary to popular belief," Sonic sneered at being treated like a baby, "You may be worrying yourself sick over Eggman's imaginary attacks, but that doesn't mean I have to."

Sonic slammed the door and was gone. Shadow was now alone stewing in his thoughts. He and Sonic didn't often fight but when they did it was over something stupid.

On the outskirts of Westoppilis, the air was hot and oddly humid. The sky was hitting its golden hour and rays of yellow sun tinted every corner of the city. But off in the distance charcoal clouds approached. A storm was coming; in more ways than one. Dr. Eggman had been far too silent for far too long. The mad man had placed small Brigades of badkniks peppered around the city waiting for a G.U.N agent to appear from the shadows to take them out. Shadow rushed through the city. His comm watch was going crazy with alerts and warnings. Rouge came over the receiver to inform him that plans had changed and that he was now in hot pursuit of the Dr. Well it's about time you showed your mug, Shadow thought to himself. Wait till he rubbed this in Sonic's face.

"Worry wart, my ass." Shadow the hedgehog said as he sent five Chaos spears out simultaneously, causing the enemy robots to violently shake then explode.

The hog then pressed a small button on the side of his wrist device,

"Commander! Come in Commander! The last of the forces seems to have been taken out."

A female voice came over the other end of the device,

"Excellent work. Now await new orders."

"Topaz," Shadow caught the woman's attention, before she turned it to something else, "the attack is not normal for the Dr."

"We will figure that out later rig- ow-we-to-"

The call was cut out by static caused by a large pulse of energy that sent a shock wave throughout the city. Shadow turned off his comm watch and glided along the streets, looking for any sign of trouble; no Eggman either. This was strange, Shadow thought to himself, it's almost like these small attacks are only distractions. He wondered what Sonic was doing. Did Sonic know about the attacks? Knowing Sonic, yes. And he was probably excited about it too. Shadow lightly chuckled to himself. It had been about eleven months since Sonic and Shadow had started dating and nine since they had started living together. Some might think that to be fast, but he was dating Sonic the hedgehog, what did people expect. When you love someone not much thought goes into your decisions. He hoped Sonic was okay out in Green Hill. He knew his boyfriend was more than capable of taking care of himself, but Shadow couldn't shake this bad feeling he had. And now the blue hero was alone out there because of the dumb fight they had. The wrist devise came to life once more causing Shadow to stop and pay close attention. A different female voice was now heard,

"Shadow this is Rouge! Omega is ahead of you. Meet up with him and help investigate the strange electrical disturbances. I've sent the coordinates. Sonic is on his way too."

"Roger that"

Well that had answered that question.

Shadow rushed over to the next city as fast as he could carry himself. Suddenly a huge robot was spotted by the dark male, looming over the bridge he was currently running on. It seemed to be a death egg robot, but the size of a ten-story apartment complex. The large red, eye lens turned towards the hedgehog and an equal large arm shot out to crush him. Shadow Chaos controlled out of the way but with the bridge destroyed Shadow was left without a place to land. He plummeted to the water below. The dark hero kicked his rocket shoes to life, pushing as much power as he could out of the thrusters. The water below was becoming closer, and even though Shadow could swim he didn't feel up to swimming all the way to shore, especially with a killer robot in the water. Thankfully the shoes had just enough trust to lift him off of the water's surface and hover. The Goliath was not finished with him yet. It slammed its arm down yet again, this time in the water next to Shadow. The hog took this as his opportunity to strike. He raced up the arm, and as soon as he was at the robots dome shaped head he homing attacked the cyclops' eye, square in the middle. But this thing was resilient. Even though Shadow was now inside the innerworkings of the bot it was still running and twisting its body around trying to cause as much havoc as possible. Shadow focused his energy creating a red aura around himself. He then pushed the energy out causing a Chaos blast. The robot's head erupted into bits and Shadow jumped again making it to shore. As he landed, he took note that the abomination was not painted like Dr. Eggman more artistic creations. No, this one looked strong but simple, and easy to mass produce. The dark hero was about to continue his quest when Rouge's frantic voice filled his ears,

"Shadow! Something happened."

Shadow held his watch to his face as he spoke,

"What? What happened?"

The feed was beginning to static as she spoke,

"It's Omega. He- i- not responding."

"I'm on it."

Without warning Omega's voice rang out,

"Systems shutting down, error, delta, vergo, ruby, error, offline, code, error."

The voice had come through strangely distorted as the robot spouted out nonsense, but Shadow didn't waste time thinking. His friend was in trouble and that's all that mattered.

Thing had gotten too weird to handle for the already stressed hog. It seemed like the world was falling apart around him. Between his friends acting completely out of character and this new masked foe, currently standing before him, Shadow felt like he was going insane. The stranger had also acted like the agent had gone somewhere, almost like he traveled to another reality. The landscape was changing before his eyes, was he hallucinating, no, this mysterious figure was the cause. And one of the strangest parts was that this guy claiming to be called infinite, apparently had met Shadow before. How was the dark hero supposed to remember every ass he kicked? Maniacal laughter erupted from the other Mobian, at least he didn't look robotic,

"Not even Sonic will be able to stand against me now!"

Shadow felt the rage build in the pit of his stomach,

"Sonic? What are you plotting?"

Shadow cast out a Chaos spear at infinite, but the energy just went straight through as though he was merely a hologram. Shadow felt like he was at a loss,

"What…is this?"

The figure floated up then turned to dart away from the stunned hog. Shadow was confused; why didn't this infinite guy just finish him off if he was untouchable,

"Stop! Where do you think you're going, infinite?"

The masked villain cackled out more laughter as he disappeared. The comm watch miraculously was back on line and Rouge could be heard on the other end,

"Shadow? Shadow! Finally, the communications back. What are you doing? Where did you go?"

"Rouge?"

"Shadow get out of there! The whole place is going to collapse. Hurry!"

Shadow did as he was told but still couldn't shake the feeling of looming dread in the air hanging over him. Once out of harms way the bat called him again,

"Shadow! Hurry over to the city again! Something's happened!"

Shadow gracefully moved forward dodging enemies,

"What is it now?"

"It's Soni-"

Shadows eyes shot open at the sound of his loves name being cut off by more static,

"What's wrong with Sonic?"

Rouge was frantic,

"Eggman somehow- what- Sonics' been captur- hello-"

Shadow halted his run,

"Rouge give some details, what do you mean... Rouge?"

Shadow did not receive an answer. He was in complete panic. He grabbed a hold of his communication device and violently tapped the screen. Shadow looked around frantic but decided to run in the direction of down town to find his love, wherever he could be.


	2. Perfect Illusions

Ch. 2 Perfect Illusions

Sonic stirred from his daze and held his side. the last thing he remembered was his little brother Tails, calling out for him. He hoped and prayed that the strange masked Mobian had left him be. Sonic took in his surroundings and tried to recall how he got in the metal room he was sitting in. The walls were bare and the only thing he knew for sure was that he was in pain. The jackal and his entourage must have done a number on him.

"Shadow..."

Sonic shook his head,

"No that couldn't have been Shadow, it must have been a clone or something like that."

Shadow loved him even if he gets mad at him sometimes. Shadow wasn't a bad guy he was the sweetest, kindest, most loving...Sonic's train of thought was broken by a sliding door opening I the floor and reviling the bloated form of no other than Dr. Eggman himself. The mustached man held a permanent grin on his face. Sonic looked to the man's side to see he was being accompanied by the masked jackal as well. Sonic tried to run at the pair but before he could energy shot from the walls tangling Sonics legs and arms causing him to fall on his face. Eggman howled with laughter,

"Hohoho! Well not so tough now, are you?"

Sonic wiggled on the floor and growled at the human,

"Whatever, it's only a matter of time till I bust out!"

"I don't doubt it." Eggman said waving sonic away.

"What?"

"You see my old friend; I know you have the capability to escape no matter how strong I build your cell. You're like a hedgehog Houdini! So, I decided that instead I'll convince you to stay."

Eggman looked upon the confusion littering the hog's features and pressed a button on his red coat. Suddenly another hole opened in the floor and a large glass tube rose up. Inside suspend in green liquid was Shadow the hedgehog with tubes sticking into each limb. He was limply floating in the luminescent solution until he began to stir and wake,

"Sonic...Sonic help me, I can't break free!"

"Shadow! I knew that thing was another clone, I know you'd never…"

Sonic moved as fast as he could with his legs tethered together. However, before he could reach the glass the evil Dr. let out a taunt,

"Uh uh."

Eggman pressed another button and one of the lights on the outside of the capsule started to flash and a sickly yellow liquid began filling the tube that led to the enclosed hedgehog's right arm. Shadow howled in pain and screamed as his arm began to melt from the inside out. Acid was being directly injected in to his appendage. Flesh began separating from muscle and muscle from bone. All the while Sonic could only stare in horror. He finally processed what he was witnessing,

"No! Stop! Please!"

Eggman stopped the torture but it was too late, Shadows entire arm was gone leaving only a nub that was bleeding out into the green solution. Sonic now on his knees, turned to the mad man with tears streaming down his face and terror in his eyes. Eggman laughed,

"Don't worry, your precious boyfriend will be right as rain once his arm grows back. He did tell you he can regenerate right? It's incredible, the only drawback is that no matter what I do to him, he can't die."

Eggman looked back at the contaminated chamber,

"So, I'd stay put if I were you. Because that looks painful."

Sonic made eye contact with Shadow as the capsule was lowered back into the floor. Shadow's eyes were drained and looked in pain. Tears of Shadow's own, bubbled at the corners of his eyes and then floated upward. Sonic mouthed the words, _I'll save you_, before his love was completely swallowed by the ground. Sonic sat defeated, refusing to give Eggman any sort of attention. The monster didn't deserve anything. Eggman's maniacal laughter rang through the small plain room, leaving Sonic behind as both the jackal and human exited. Once the two were alone, the Mobian turned his attention to the cackling mad man,

"How do you wish to dispose of him, sir?"

Eggman ceased his mirth,

"I don't. Not yet, Infinite. I want to make him to feel the pain ten-fold for every moment he has made me suffer."

"So keep him on the brink of death?" Infinite questioned with a calm deep voice.

"No… Causing Sonic physical pain does nothing; he is too stubborn and strong willed for that. I want to break him. I want him to wish he was never born." Eggman stated with hands behind his back and grin growing ever larger.

Infinite laughed softly to himself as he held his clawed hand up, causing energy to form around it from the gem in his chest,

"Understood."

Black and red eyes peered over silver rimmed glasses at the vile creature,

"Do your worst."

Six months had passed since Sonic went missing. Dr. Eggman in that time had launched a full take over. Somehow the mad man had created a whole new weapon with the capability to bring down G.U.N and most of the Mobian forces. Most people had lost hope, most people had given up fighting, most people said Sonic was dead. But Shadow knew that couldn't be true, because if it was and Eggman had killed him... there wouldn't be a world left to take over by the time Shadow was done with it. The dark male had been on the search for Sonic and the cause behind Eggman's power. He had been previously working with the resistance but found their tactics weak and the echidna wasn't fit to be a general by any means, in Shadow's opinion. The red, hot head was also very untrusting of the hog, since Tails had reported that Shadow helped take Sonic out. That tid-bit of info had most everyone suspecting Shadow, a longtime friend, of being a spy. War can turn even the most level headed people insane. At the rate they were going, it seemed it would take them years to find Sonic. Although it looked like Shadow couldn't do much better. After he had a falling out with Knuckles and went off on his own, the fake Shadows began to spring up. As one would imagine they were making the hero's life fairly difficult. Shadow had thought they were more androids at first, but after he would defeat one it would just disappear and there was always ten more to take its place. The hog was now seen as a war criminal. how many times am I going to be framed? Shadow wondered. He could only assume that this was karma for what Sonic had to go through when they first met. The hedgehog couldn't even walk up to one of the resistance members to ask them any questions or tell them of his findings without being attacked, so he decided he was just better off on his own.

"Sonic..."

It was no secret that Shadow was in pain. He may have been accused of losing his mind a few times when he was with the resistance, but most who believed him to be the enemy chalked it up to guilt. Shadow shook his head to regain his deminer. This was no time for him to break down, he had to save Sonic. Sonic wouldn't rest until I was back in his arms and I must do the same, Shadow thought, Sonic would always have hope. The resistance could use some of that hope right about now.

"They must think I'm the scum of the earth. I wonder if rouge believes these lies."

Even though the bat had been on the call with him when it happened, she had remarked that it was very suspicious that Shadow had cut out conveniently when sonic was taken, even if she didn't want to admit it.

Shadow stared out into the sky line from atop an old apartment complex. Clouds of smoke and brimstone filled the atmosphere. The sky that was once as blue as his love was now tainted with death and destruction. Shadow glanced down to the street below noticing and odd sight. An Egg pawn was rushing away from the city, alone. The bot seemed to be carrying something in its hands and Shadow decided to check it out. He jumped from the building to meet the fleeing piece of machinery. The robot spotted Shadow however and quickly began smashing the item in its hand. Shadow got right up on it and shouted before the creation self-destructed,

"Hey! Stop! What are you…"

Broken robot pieces littered the ground. Shadow inspected the wreckage. The only thing he could find however, was tiny shards of what seemed to be red crystal. Shadow picked up one the sharp pieces of shrapnel and held it up to the sun, as the luminescent glow with in it died. The hog had many questions, why was this object so important that it had to be destroyed; what did it do; and where had he seen it before? Shadow tried to clear his mind of his intrusive thoughts that had recently been plaguing him and think. His eyes snapped open,

"It's the same color as the strange gem that was on that Infinite guy's chest."

Crash!

Shadow turned to see one of the mega death Egg robots had spotted him and was preparing its arm attack. Before he could be hit, Shadow chaos controlled out of the way and the hog was gone.

Sonic laid on his side in his ten by ten solitary confinement cell. It was dimly lit and completely silent apart from the occasional sob that would escape the broken male. He was lost. He didn't know what to do. He only wished that he could help Shadow. This had been all his fault, he thought. If he had just listened to Shadow about preparing, instead of choosing to ignore the possibility of Eggman's return, then maybe Shadow wouldn't be… Sonic listened to the strange hum the floor made, as if he was on an air plane or something else mechanical and mobile. Tears stained his face. Was it so wrong for Sonic to want to just live in his perfect world he and Shadow had made; to ignore the outside so he wouldn't have to worry; yes… it had been selfish. Now Shadow was trapped too and receiving the brunt of the torture thanks to him. Sonic remembered why loving someone was dangerous, because it always came with pain on both ends.

Suddenly the wall on the far right hissed and began to slide back, reviling thick glass, that Sonic had already tried once to break to no avail; only granting Shadow more pain for Sonic's disobedience. On the other side held a room with the capsule the dark hog was held in. the scene had become a common occurrence to the prisoner. Floating in the green liquid Shadow's half eaten body was deteriorating and simultaneously fixing its self. He was only a head, a torso, and half of a leg. The green solution had bits of loose flesh and fur that had fallen off of the once hero mixed into the disgusting stew. The dark hog slowly opened his bloodshot eyes,

"Sonic… it hurts… so much."

All Sonic could do was cry. He knew exactly why this much damage had been dealt to Shadow. The night before Sonic had tried another attempt at escape, but as usual he was detected and forced to cease, do to the deafening, heart wrenching screams that Eggman broadcast over the intercom system. The blue hog never made it very far.

"Sonic… please… make it stop… I'm begging you."

Sonic refused to look at the pleading male, but he knew what he was referring to. Eggman had installed a big red button on one of the walls and when pressed was supposed to submerge the entire tank in acid and destroy every last particle of Shadow, effectively killing him.

"Please Sonic… it's what you owe me… you did this… please, I just want the pain to end."

Sonic slammed his forehead on the floor and whaled,

"I can't, I'm sorry… please forgive me… I can't, I can't!"

Sonic looked up to Shadow's crimson irises with his own green ones, pools of tears leaking from his eyes. He had never cried so much in his life. He had always refused to give people the pleasure of seeing him in such a way. But now, he felt like a helpless child, he just wanted Shadow to be able to hold him again; care for him and tell him it would be alright. The hog in the tube only stared, but then said as the wall started to move back into place,

"I thought you loved me."

Sonic collapsed on the floor out of exhaustion.

The blue hog was startled by being suddenly shook from his sleep. He turned on his back to look up at the owner of the hands disturbing him to see Shadow. Shadow… but how? Sonic gripped onto Shadow's shoulders and in a hushed tone said,

Shadow how did you get out? And your arms…"

"I regenerate remember. Come on there's no time to lose."

Sonic could feel the flood of emotions that he would have to suppress, begin to take hold. He dare not let them out, not right then, they both weren't out of the woods yet. Sonic absent mindly held Shadow's hand as he allowed the other to lead him out a door and into a hall. The hallway looked somewhat familiar to Sonic but the hog didn't question it. The only thing he was concerned with was holding on to Shadow for dear life. He looked up to the brown and orange checkered wall paper trying to remember were he had seen the pattern before, but kept drawing blanks. He returned his attention to Shadow who towered over the blue hog.

"Keep up Sonic, not much longer now."

Sonic nodded his head and wrapped a tiny hand around one of Shadows fingers,

"Yes sir."

The hedgehogs fallowed down the hall until ahead of them they spotted a metal door that looked like it belonged to an industrial building. In red letters a sign above read, _Exit_. Shadow pushed the door open and a blinding light filled Sonic's senses. When he was finally able to see again, he realized they were standing out in the middle of nowhere, dirt and fields in all directions. Sonic looked behind himself to see that they had just come from a gas station with a closed sign in the window. Shadow spoke as he pointed to a road,

"That way leads home, come on."

Shadow lifted the blue hoglet up into a white pick-up truck, and proceeded to buckle him in. Shadow kissed the top of the baby's head then rounded the vehicle to get in the driver's side. They took off down the road but Sonic noticed clouds approaching from the side view mirror,

"Shadow we better hurry, there looks like there is a storm coming." The child said in a small voice.

"Yeah, no shit sherlock."

Sonic snapped his head to look at the owner of the potty mouth and found Shadow's profile staring out at the road,

"I'm surprised you even figured that out. Idiot."

Sonic blinked with tears welling up in his big puppy dog, emerald eyes,

"What?"

"This whole thing is your fault. None of this would never have happened if it hadn't been for your stupidity. Why are you so stupid, and weak? Gods, you cant do anything for yourself, I can't believe I ever loved you. All you do is take. First your mother and now me." Shadow stated with venom in his voice.

Sonic could barely get a sentence out,

"Why… are…"

"You're a demon…" Shadow suddenly turned his head fully to Sonic showing that the half of his face that had been facing the window was grotesque and melted, "You did this to me, you monster!"

Sonic screamed and pulled the handle to the door, jumping out of the moving vehicle. He rolled on the ground cutting himself on the brush on the side of the road. The truck came to screeching halt and the driver yelled out from inside,

"And stay out of my life!"

The truck once again sped off down the road and out of sight, leaving the tiny child by himself. The sky was overtaken by dark clouds as the wind picked up. Lightning struck a nearby tree setting it ablaze. Rain pelted the tender skin of the abandoned baby as he screamed before he was completely submerged in water,

"No! Come back! Please… Don't leave me…"

Sonic screamed out as he held his hand over his heart trying to calm down. He tried to gather his bearings, frantically shifting his head around the room so he could figure out where he was. The four metal walls that he had stared at for months stared back and he pushed himself against one and cradled his knees with his arms. He hyperventilated until he puked on the floor. The dream had felt so real, too real. Something shiny caught his eye. It was the red button fixed to the wall gleaming off of the dim light fixture above. The boy hung his head and sobbed.

Shadow glared down at the mass of robots that laid destroyed by the dark hero's hand. He quickly returned to the shadows and pressed himself to a wall and peered around the corner. He was in human refuge territory. After the human government had surrendered to protect their citizens, those who were not forced to work in factories as prisoners of war, fled to these dingy safe zones if they could be called that. They were regularly attacked by Eggman's bots and subject to starvation to try and weed them out. Fortunately, the Mobian resistance had found a way to smuggle food and water, while the Humans exchange weapons, supplies, and ammo from there preexisting factories. For once Humans and Mobians were working in harmony; it was a shame it took a war to make that happen though.

Shadow was just about to move forward when he heard a shot ring out and metal clang to the ground. The hog turned to find a broken robot and standing over it a tired looking woman with brown hair poking out from a G.U.N issued helmet.

"Topaz."

"Shadow! I'm so glad you're all right."

The woman dropped to her knees and hugged the dark male. He hugged back squeezing her tightly like he used to do to Maria and Sonic...

"Shadow what are you doing here, I figured you would be helping the Mobian forces." Topaz said pulling from the embrace.

Shadow cringed,

It's a long story, here let's find a safe place to talk."

Shadow and topaz settled down in a makeshift shelter. The building use to be a school house, but now the children's work and drawing that once hung from the walls lay on the ground, chard and unrecognizable. The agent and commander pulled up the tiny chairs and took a seat; well the chair was tiny for Topaz.

"That's awful that they think you're apart of all this. And... I'm sorry about Sonic. I heard that he had died, but if you believe that he is alive I trust you."

"Thank you, commander, but where is Towers?"

"We have a group that are undercover helping the resistance gather info from inside Eggman's facilities. He is overseeing that operation."

Shadow breathed a sigh of relief,

"That's good... listen Topaz, I came to ask if the humans had found out any information about secret bases that the Dr. might be hiding. Can you help me?"

The woman smiled,

"Yeah, but we will have to head to the G.U.N refugee HQ."

Shadow smirked,

"Is it anywhere near the central city fountain?"

Topaz looked confused trying to think of what Shadow could be talking about but then she made the connection to what location he was referring to,

"Yes, but why?"

Shadow suddenly latched on to the human's hand and in a flash of light they were gone.

Sonic sat with his feet pulled to his chest. The wall that presented Shadow's torture chamber was down once again and the dark hog stared back at the blue one,

"Please kill me"

"No..."

"I'm in so much pain, please..."

"No..."

"Sonic."

"No..."

Each answer the blue male gave came out more horse than the last. Sonic felt dead inside. He was losing hope. But he couldn't. Still something in the hedgehog's heart felt wrong, this whole situation felt wrong. Shadow's quickness to give up threw Sonic for a loop, even from the very beginning Shadow acted hopeless. the strange nightmares didn't seem right either.

"Why do you hate me?"

Sonic looked up to the voice with tired eyes,

"I love you."

Shadow sneered inside of the tube,

"No, you don't. If you did you would let me die. You're just selfish."

Sonic laughed to himself,

"Maybe you're right... it's funny… They call this solitary confinement but they use your company to torture me."

"Torture you? Look at me, Sonic! You are perfectly fine... Gods all you do is take and feel no remorse."

Sonic slowly lifted his head something was wrong but Sonic couldn't place it. He looked to his love but couldn't really feel him. It wasn't like he was really there. Sonic thought that maybe he was just dissociating, but he couldn't shake the feeling.

"You're pathetic, I don't know why I ever loved you."

Sonic abruptly stood up. He looked hard at the image before him. Something clicked in the hog's mind,

"You're not Shadow."

Suddenly the edges around everything in front of him started to become fuzzy and discolored like looking through 3D glasses. The hedgehog in the tank didn't flinch,

"What are you talking about. Take responsibility for what you've done for once in your life."

For a moment the image started to go back to normal, as Sonic was wondered if he had gone crazy. No, he had never doubted his instincts before and he wasn't about to start. Sonic glared back at Shadow,

"No! Shadow would never say those things to me, no matter what. This isn't right!"

Sonic took the cuffs that where clasped to his hands and smashed them against the glass… but it wasn't glass. It cracked in red streaks distorting the image on the other side. The fake on the other end screamed,

"Stop!"

Sonic delivered one final blow to the false glass before shattering it completely, leaving behind only the metal wall. He stared at the metallic silver color before him and realized that, in fact, for the past six months he had been completely alone. Shadow wasn't hurt, he probably wasn't even there; Sonic had been taken for a disturbing, hell of a ride. The hog's quills began to stand on end as an alarm sounded, most likely due to his behavior. Rage suddenly over took Sonic and he dropped to the ground shivering. His cobalt fur took on the shade of dark navy and he snapped the cuffs off both his arms and legs.

"Aaahhh!"

Sonic began spinning into a tight ball and bouncing violently from wall to wall, ceiling to floor. The Mobian was in a frenzy bashing himself back and forth. The room that once was square now more resembled a lumpy dented ball until the hog weakened it enough to bust through. He was foaming at the mouth and his irises were not visible. The shining whites of his eyes shown through thick smoke as robots and Dr. Eggman himself approached. Before they could reach him however, Sonic collapsed.


	3. Found You, Faker

Ch. 3 Found You, Faker

Sonic woke up yet again somewhere he could not recognize. It had become a habit for the hedgehog. He positioned his aching body carefully into an upright position. He was bound again, this time by some sort of energy cuffs. The area around him looked like every other he had seen the past few months; dull and grey. The container he was in suddenly jostled and Sonic realized he was moving. He remembered the events prior but the details after he smashed the illusion were fuzzy.

"They're probably taking me to a new cell." Sonic muttered to himself.

Sonic sat in silence a while longer, letting the situation sink in. He had been fooled by... whatever that was. Sonic would have felt like a complete idiot if it had not been for the fact that whatever power was used on him seemed to change his perception. Eggman was going to pay for this, Sonic thought, at least Shadow is okay... I hope. The hog felt the vehicle come to a stop and heard the sound of obnoxious robotic voices outside. A sliding door opened blinding the hero. Once he could see, the hog was presented with Orbot and Cubot accompanied by... Zavoc? Oh yeah, that guy. They latched a ribbon of energy to the cuffs on Sonic's hands and led him out the door. They walked past cell after cell. these ones were at least open, although the bars were made of lasers. Zavoc suddenly spoke,

"This will be your temporary cell for the time being until we have prepared your new solitary continent chamber. So, don't get cozy. And you will be severely punished for your escape attempt."

"Ooh, kinky. Not really into big dumb salamanders though." Sonic sneered at the zeti.

All three looked surprised by Sonic's sudden change of attitude. The hog had gone from being a broken man to taking on a rebellious nature. This wasn't his normal brand of rebel though, even the bots could see that. This was something more. Little did they know that this new attitude was fueled by unadulterated rage. Something Sonic never thought he could feel for someone, hate maybe, but he had never felt the urge to severely bring harm. The blue hero smirked to himself as he saw the cell in the distance.

Time to bust out.

Shadow and Topaz reached the G.U.N refugee headquarters. The woman led him inside a secret passage that opened out into a control room with a round table sitting in the middle. Standing around it where humans and one very recognizable person, _towering_ over the rest.

"Hello Major Commander."

The man looked up to the voice and Shadow could have sworn he saw a sigh of relief escape him,

"Agent Shadow... it's good to see you. What brings you here?"

"I need any information that you can give me on the Dr's base's preferably the hidden ones." Shadow stated.

Towers looked happy in a stern way,

"Your timing is incredible, we have just been discussing our next move, because it seems Eggman has rebuilt the Death Egg."

Shadow's eyes went wide. Good lords, he thought, how did the doctor manage to hide that. It must have had something to do with his new power.

"That is very interesting. Do the Mobian forces know."

"Not yet," the man said with a frown, "we have been trying to get in touch with them for weeks, but something keeps jamming our systems. But now that you're here we can just send the message with you."

Shadow groaned and folded his arms,

"That's going to be a problem. Currently the resistance and I are... not on speaking terms."

What little excitement Towers held in his face fell away,

"Shadow why? What did you..."

"You know me, I'm not very good at playing nice with the other kids. On top of that, they now have been fooled into believing I'm working for the same man who took... Sonic from me." Shadow said lowering his ears at the last part.

Towers looked sympathetic for a moment then turned to think,

"Well you can still send the message as long as they don't know you're the one sending it."

Towers walked away but then came back with something in his hands. The man presented Shadow with a G.U.N uniform small enough for him. It came with a helmet, that Shadow wasn't too crazy about aesthetically, and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Shadow took the garments,

"I thought you didn't make Mobian sizes?"

"We didn't, until you became an official member and mentioned it to us. This is the prototype we had been working on I was going to give it to you for a special occasion when we finished it. The hardest part is getting the helmet right."

"It's great really. Just don't bother with the helmet I won't wear it anyway."

"Noted. Here the finishing touch to your disguise."

Towers pressed a patch to the front of the out only adhering it with glue. It read private Smith. They had a million of those lying around. It must have been a very popular name among humans. The uniform wasn't a private's uniform either, it was an agent's, but Shadow doubted a Mobian would know the difference. Shadow looked up to the man,

"Ah! I don't know where the new resistance HQ is, but if I find one of the Mobian forces, then I can have them relay the message... do you have somewhere private I can put this on?"

Topaz and Towers looked at each other, then back to the Mobian who was wearing only shoes and a pair of gloves. They both shrugged and pointed to a room off to the left.

Shadow tried on the outfit. The long-sleeved shirt was a charcoal grey instead of blue like the others. The protective vest along with the shin guards, combat boots and gloves were all black. He liked the many pockets on the pants and on the vest; and the way the studded black belt hung from his thin waist. The patch on the front held his false name but the ones on his shoulder presented the G.U.N symbol and the United Federations flag. The helmet was the real problem but Shadow supposed that it would help his disguise. He stuffed his quills to the best of his ability into the head gear, leaving only a few stray ones at the back of his neck sticking out. Putting that on was tiring work and on top of that he had to empty his quills of their contents to achieve his goal. The hog gathered up his loose belongings and grabbed an empty duffel bag from the room he was in to hold them all. He did put his chaos emerald in one of his pants pockets, however. Just as he was exiting, a man was in the middle of reporting something to Towers. Shadow saw the Major's brows raise then turned to search for Shadow,

"Shadow, I was just informed that Sonic is alive on the death egg!"

Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose stood around a massive computer arguing over what was next for the resistance when a Mobian, blue jay, burst through the door frantically waving his wings about and speaking a mile a minute. Both commanders blinked at the outburst. The commotion attracted the attention of the Chaotix and Rouge as well, who floated down from her perch. The jay handed Amy a slip of paper,

"It was given to me by a G.U.N soldier. He said that G.U.N had been trying to contact us for weeks but something is blocking their signals. He told me to tell you it's from a guy on the inside."

Amy read the note out loud to the group,

"G.U.N has uncovered that Dr Eggman has rebuilt the Death Egg and is somehow cloaking the base, we believe this structure to double as a prison which maybe where Sonic is being held. It is a high possibility that he is being tortured aboard the craft."

Everyone gasped at the news. Rouge looked over Amy's shoulder at the note. She recognized that neat cursive hand writing anywhere. There was only one person she knew who put fancy dashes through their capital S. Rouge smirked to herself and put her hands on her hips,

"well Knuky, we better come up with a rescue plan, and fast."

Sonic sat in his cell racking his brain to think of an escape plan. If only he could get out of his binds, he would be home free, he thought. Zavoc was constantly guarding the door, if only he could distract him somehow. The hog decided to do what he does best besides running, talk Zavoc's ear off.

"Hey," Sonic said in his usual obnoxious tone, "there isn't any chance that you'll let me out is there. No, of course not you hate fun."

Just as Sonic was about to lay it on thick with distractions, he found that he didn't need to, because a power surge shut down the bars of his cell and his cuffs. Well that was lucky, Sonic thought, as he jumped off the bench he had been sitting on. Time to rock and roll Sonic internalized.

After easily taking out Zavoc and having the realization that he wasn't entirely real either, Sonic ran to escape the Death Egg. Sonic had no idea he had been in space the entire time and was even more surprised when he found that his escape had not been only dumb luck but a rescue attempt. Gods he missed his friends, gods he wanted to kiss the real Shadow. Sonic felt the tears well up in his eyes as he made his way out of the death egg with this new rookie he had found. He couldn't allow this red wolf to see him cry though. He couldn't allow anyone too, that was the last thing they needed right now. For their hero to bawl like a little baby.

Sonic and the rookie who Sonic had found out was called Gadget, finally made it to Mobius after a bumpy ride. They landed in a field outside the city limits tearing up the dirt and crops in their path. Both Sonic and gadget emerged from the hatch door that was billowing smoke into the surrounding area. They coughed out and aloud their vision to readjust to the night sky. Sonic took it in silently, breathing in the fresh air. It was cold but the air wasn't stale or smell like his own sick. No, instead it has been replaced by fire and brimstone. The destruction to the world was devastating and Sonic couldn't help but blame himself. He didn't have much time to think though because he was suddenly being crushed by the thin but strong arms of Amy rose who had just come up over the hill.

"Sonic, I was so worried, but I kept telling them you weren't dead." The girl rang out into the night.

"Amy." Sonic said petting the girls head tenderly.

Amy recognized the oddness of his behavior but decided to let it happen, he had been locked away for 6 months. If he was just a little weird after that then they were doing good. Suddenly Gadget was trying to tell them something nervously,

"H-hey I didn't mean to I- interrupt but we should probably get back to HQ."

Amy pulled away from the hug as she remembered why she was here in the first place,

"Oh my gosh, everyone is waiting for you! Let's go!"

Amy led both males back to the Mobian refugee camp talking Sonic's head off the whole way. She was so excited and happy she couldn't contain herself. She stared crying mid-sentence and Sonic rubbed her back as they walk giving her his signature grin. However internally Sonic was anything but happy, he had to stay strong for everyone. But Sonic couldn't help but feel... numb. Something was wrong with him, he thought he should be jumping for joy but... nothing. He thought that maybe once he saw his little brother and Shadow again, he will be back to his old self, but the door swung open and everyone cheered except the two people that he wished to see the most.

"Where are Tails and Shadow?"

Everyone went quite; some out of sympathy, some offended that Sonic didn't care about their presence. Knuckles blurted out over the crowd,

"Shadow's a traitor and ... Tails went crazy."

Rouge punched Knuckles in the side and he turned to her as if to say, what was that for. Amy approached Sonic carefully,

"Sonic, Tails couldn't handle the thought of you being dead, he left and no one knows where he went."

Sonic's quills began to subconsciously raise,

"Did no one think to go find him, he's just a kid!"

"We have been swamped with everything that is going on and he is 14, you were 14 and on your own." Amy said in defense.

"That's different he's," Sonic stopped his outburst and looked at the shocked faces before him, "it's fine we'll sort it out. Um… what about Shadow?"

Knuckles interrupted yet again. The echidna had been trying to be more level headed during the tough times but found himself getting overly heated when his friends were involved. One could say that knuckles felt especially betrayed by Shadow because he had just stared letting himself warm up to the guy.

"Shadow is a traitor I'm sorry to say it Sonic but he had us all fooled. I wouldn't doubt your relationship to be just a ploy to get you distracted."

Sonic winced at knuckles statement and tried to ignore the reflexive urge to deck the echidna in the nose. No way Shadow had turned on him not after all they had been through. Then again, Sonic thought, he knew Shadow on the death egg was just a projection of some kind the Dr had made, was the one causing havoc the real deal. No, Sonic shook his head,

"No Knuckles there's more to this something is up with that word jackal. I've seen what he is capable of first hand. And Knuckles..."

The red male met Sonic's eyes as the hog looked dead through him. With an almost lifeless tone Sonic spoke down to his friend,

"Don't ever talk about Shadow like that again...okay?"

Sonic quickly changed his demeanor once he noticed that not just knuckles was staring at him concerned but the whole room. Rouge decided to change the subject,

"Alright boys. Let's figure out what's next."

Shadow recollected the uniform from off his person and organized them neatly in his duffel bag. In all the excitement Shadow had not noticed that another day had gone by and Shadow had not slept. In all honesty the hog had not really had any good sleep since Sonic went missing he lifted his head to the sky and tried to search for the alleged floating super base, but saw nothing. He sighed to himself,

"I'll bring you back home I promise I just have to figure out how to get to you. Maybe if I warp to the ark..."

Boom!

Shadow wiped his head around in the direction of the noise,

"Sonic!"

Shadow knew it had to have been him. The resistance must have already saved him, Shadow guessed it was lucky Sonic was a top priority to them to. The only issue now was why the hell were they allowing Sonic to fight on the front lines right after he was rescued.

"Shit! Idiots!" Shadow said as he blasted off into the city.

Sonic was running at top speeds. Stretching his legs was refreshing and even though the others had begged for him to stay he knew the only way to find Shadow was to confront him. He had to draw him out and challenge him. Gods, Sonic thought, this isn't right it's like this is the Shadow from when we first met. Sonic had herd silver and the Chaotix talking about the various traitorous deeds Shadow had committed in his absence. All of which didn't match the Shadow he knew. Suddenly Sonic head Amy over his communicator,

"Sonic Shadow is moving above the city!"

Sonic did a homing attack into group of egg pawns and smiled,

"Well That was fast. Alright Shadow now it's time for the truth."

Shadow tried his best to lock on to Sonic's Chaos signature, but was finding it difficult with his heart racing in anticipation. He felt anger boil in him over the stupidity of the rest of Sonic's friends, but at the same time he had never felt so much want for another. His prayers had finally been answered after months of heartache, blood, sweat, and tears. There in the distance, Shadow could make out a faint blue figure. Relief started to take hold of him and his emotions began to peek through his mission mentally. But then a second figure appeared; it was himself?

"No..."

Shadow grit his teeth and ran full force at the imposter.

Sonic stopped about a couple yards away from the dark hedgehog. The male before him had his arms folded in typical Shadow fashion but something about him seemed off. Like the lack of reaction to seeing the blue speedster.

"Alright Shadow what's going on?"

Sonic didn't have to wait long for a response because upon spotting the blue hog the antihero in front of him jumped forward to kick Sonic. Sonic was shocked that his lover the person he shared everything with was attacking him. He held his arms if to shield his face from the sudden attack.

"Chaos control!"

Out of a flash of light another Shadow appeared at high speeds and drove his foot into the clone's head sending it careening to his he ground.

"Two Shadow?"

Before his eyes the male on the ground dissipated into red and purple pixels. Shadow turned to Sonic still heated over the whole situation,

"It was a fake."

"Fake but how?"

Shadow motioned for Sonic to fallow. They ran side by side out of enemy fire as they talked,

"It's obviously not an android."

"No, I believe it to be an illusion of some kind but at the same time they seem to alter reality around them." Shadow answered.

"What? How did Egghead get a hold of that kind of power? Fuck! What is going on." Sonic shouted into the air.

"Don't worry yourself with that right now I want to know if you are alright." Shadow said as he reached out to hold Sonic's hand.

Sonic jerked his hand away from the touch and ceased his run causing Shadow to stop as well a few steps ahead.

"Sonic?"

The dark male looked over his lover. Sonic wore a wavering look. It bordered on the cusp of complacency and... fear,

"How do I know you're not a fake? How do I know this isn't a trick?"

Shadow blinked at Sonic strange distrust and causation. The underlying terror was sending chills down Shadows spine but he felt like the answer to Sonic's question should be obvious,

"Because I... well you see if I was a... why would I...," Shadow trued to think of a way to prove he was the real deal but kept coming out blank, "come on let's talk about this somewhere safe."

Shadow lead the way to an abandoned bakery, once inside Sonic stood close to the nearest exit,

"You know taking me to a secluded area doesn't exactly help your case."

Shadow frowned,

"Sonic... I don't know what to tell you. It's me... the ultimate cuddle form."

Shadow reluctantly said the horrendously cute name Sonic had given him just to annoy him, hoping that would ease the blue ones worry. Sonic laughed a little then with a small smile said,

"That doesn't really prove anything but I think I'll believe you... for now."

Sonic playfully narrowed his eyes as Shadow approached him. Shadow gracefully backed Sonic into the wall, like he had done it a million times before,

"Good, because I don't want to worry you but, I was about to have a mental breakdown."

Sonic placed his hands on Shadow's shoulders,

"Well we can't have that, now can we?"

Shadow inched closer,

"No, not at all."

Sonic moved his head forward until he was inches away from Shadow's lips,

"Hmm."

Shadow closed the gap and locked lips with Sonic roughly turning their heads to get a better angle at each other. Sonic cupped Shadow's face in his hands while Shadow took the opportunity to explore his loves body. The dark hog moved his hands up and down Sonic's waist and hips trying to refamiliarize himself. Shadow pulled from the kiss with a loud pop,

"Gods, I was so worried. I love you."

He then continued to attack Sonic's mouth. Sonic moaned and lifted his leg upon having his butt grabbed. Sonic felt up Shadow's chest fur as his mind began to go fuzzy. He wondered if this was real, if he was really about to do this in an abandoned building. As if to answer the question an explosion rang out from the street outside. Both hogs jumped and then looked at each other's red faces. Shadow nervously spoke,

"Maybe now is not the best time for that, since we are in the middle of a war zone."

Sonic smiled softly and grabbed Shadow's hand this time, and lead him out.

Shadow and Sonic waltzed into the resistance HQ without a care in the world. Sonic spotted Amy at the computer with vector close by looking over her shoulder. Both hogs walked to the pair and Sonic greeted,

"hey, Ames. I'm back and I brought a friend."

Both Mobians turned around and the pink one quickly hugged Sonic, wrapping her arms around his neck,

"I'm glad you made it back!"

Amy smiled at Shadow and waved from behind Sonic's spiky head. Shadow returned the favor, but just as he was about to say something Vector jumped in front of the hugging hogs,

"Hey, what's he doing here! Don't worry I'll protect you two!"

Shadow made a noise under his breath,

"I highly doubt that."

Vector got into a Kong Fu movie style battle stance but the giant lizard was easily pushed to the side by Amy,

"Oh shut up vector, Shadow is our friend."

"But knuckles said…"The croc croaked out.

"do you believe everything knuckles tells you, you know he's a drama queen." Amy snapped and then turned an eye to Shadow and winked.

Shadow stood stunned. She had believed in both of them all along. She had believed that Sonic was alive and that he was good, and now she was even a commander and a good one at that. Shadow smiled back at the pink one and the crocodile who was sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Perhaps nothing had really changed at all.


	4. Anniversary

Ch 4 Anniversary

A day had passed and Shadow had insisted that Sonic get some rest. The dark hog took diligent care of his love, almost too much. Sonic had complied for the most part, once his friends gave their impute. Sonic did ask however, were Knuckles had gone. To which Amy had responded,

_"Him and Espio are meeting with our forces in the west, why?"_

_Sonic rolled his eyes,_

_"Because I don't feel like dealing with him right now."_

Shadow entered a room with bunk beds lined up military style. He sat at the edge one of the occupied ones and pet a lump under the covers. The lump stirred and beautiful emerald eyes emerged from the blanket. The grumpy hog was about to cuss out who ever had awoken him from his slumber, but stopped once he realized who the culprit was,

"Shadow, what time is it?"

"Almost dinner, you had a very good nap," Shadow said kissing the top of the hero's head, "come on, I want to show you something."

Shadow lead Sonic down a hallway and stopped once he reached a specific door. Sonic looked at the door then back to Shadow,

"You wanted to show me a supply closet?"

Shadow opened the door with a key and stepped inside. Sonic soon fallowed and his jaw dropped. In the middle of the secluded space was a makeshift table, adorned with one large candle. The typical rations, that they would have had on their plates, had been replaced by two chili dogs.

"how?" sonic muttered, "and why?"

"The chili dogs and room are because I have connections, the reason is because today marks our one-year anniversary."

Sonic turned around to shadow with tears in his eyes,

"I forgot…"

Shadow only chuckled and pulled a seat out for Sonic. The blue hero sat down allowing himself to be doted over. Shadow lit the candle in the center of the crate covered with a red table cloth. The blue one began to devour his meal causing Shadow to go wide eyed at the veracious display,

"Are… Are you all right? I mean I know it's your favorite but…"

Shadow stopped mid thought and realized that maybe Sonic had not been eating well. He had been locked up but he didn't look malnourished. Shadow took a look at Sonics face and examined his fat percentage. The hero's normally round, chubby cheeks were now slightly sunken in and thin. Shadow frowned, how had he not noticed sooner,

"Sonic, was Eggman not feeding you?"

Sonic still confused by his boyfriend's sudden inquiry answered with nervousness to his voice,

"What? No no, he fed me. I um… just ate eggs every day. It was egghead's weird way of making fun of me. honestly I'm surprised that my cholesterol isn't through the roof."

Sonic laughed at his own joke but Shadow wasn't completely convinced. He knew that if Sonic didn't want to talk about something he would lie through his teeth. The truth was that the hog was fed every so often and he did not get the luxury of eggs. He was given a mystery slop that a lot of time the male couldn't hold down. Shadow shoved his chilly dog to the other side of the table,

"Well still. Have mine too."

Sonic took the offer,

"Well, if you insist."

Shadow did most of the talking through there dinner date, since Sonic didn't have much to talk about besides captivity and he definitely wasn't doing that. The dark hog captivated the blue one with his tales of his adventures and how he had gotten his uniform and relayed the message to the Mobians. Sonic rested one his head on his folded hand and made goo goo eyes at his love. It took Shadow a moment to realize that Sonic was staring,

"Sonic are you… listening?"

"Hmm sorry. I was just distracted by this really hot guy."

Shadow leaned on his hand as well,

"Oh really? should I be jealous?"

"Nah. You are ten times sexier."

Shadow got up from his seat and rounded the crate that they were seated at. He took Sonic by the hand and lifted him to his feet. Sonic kissed Shadow's cheek softly teasing his lover,

"I hope you know that next time I want to see that uniform."

The blue hero wiggled his brow then proceeded to kick off his shoes and pull off his gloves with his teeth. Shadow grinned at the suggestive display as he took off his own clothes. Sonic felt up Shadow's crotch to which the recipient replied with a groan. The younger of the two kissed the elder's lips a few times before locking lust filled eyes with him. Shadow backed Sonic against the wall like he did the other day in the streets. This time however it was rougher and with purpose. Shadow crashed his lips against Sonic's as the blue male moaned out. Shadow placed his hands on each side of sonic head boxing the hero in. the dark male grinded his hips against the others pelvis causing Sonic to buck. Shadow then took one of his hands and ushered Sonic's member from its sheath. Shadow tugged and pulled at the sensitive organ as he continued to make out with the lips below him. Sonic took the hands that were pressed against the wall and grabbed on to the mass of black quills on Shadow's head. He pulled and scratched. Sonic let out a gasp when Shadow pulled from the kiss only to attack the hog's ear. The hand that had been playing with the pink organ had moved on to the hole bellow Sonic's tail. Pre cum dribbled down Sonic's member and pooled at the ring. The blue one's lip was quivering as he began to sob,

"Shadow I- I need you right now. Please I m-missed you so much."

"Sonic. But I haven't…" Shadow tried to get out but was interrupted by a swift bite to the lip.

"Please." Sonic whispered into shadow's ear.

Shadow lost all self-control. He picked Sonic up by the hips with ease and angled his own throbbing erection to line up with Sonic entrance. Sonic's eyes went wide at being lifted off the ground and honestly, he was even more turned on then before. Shadow pushed the hog down onto himself and the blue male threw his head back, wincing a little when his quills hit the wall. Sonic's only saving grace was that his own secretions were acting as a lube… somewhat. Once seated fully inside, Shadow stepped back and Sonic caught Shadow's piercing crimson eyes,

"What are you g-going to…" Sonic uttered out excited.

"Just tell me if you need to stop."

Shadow lifted sonic almost all the way to the head of his member and then slammed his lover back down to the base. Sonic screamed out and wrapped his legs around Shadow. The dark hog repeated the action, gaining more speed and momentum each time. Sonic who was holding on by Shadow's shoulders, twitching and crying and moaning, was amazed by his partner's own strength. Sonic felt Shadow's muscles shudder under the dark male's fur. Shadow kept going like that for a while but Sonic's arms and legs began to give,

"Shadow I, huff, can't, huff."

Shadow took the hint and moved his lover to the crates they had been eating on moments ago. He laid Sonic down on his stomach, bending him over the wood. Sonic blinked at being so easily man handled. Shadow then roughly resumed his previous actions and the blue hero howled in sudden pleasure. The stripped male had become very good at finding Sonic's sweet spot. He pounded into it over and over causing Sonic to scream with every thrust,

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Shadow then sunk his teeth into the fawn flesh of Sonic's shoulder. The blue male breathed out heavily against the crates that he was being plowed into. Shadow softly kissed the hogs fresh wound over and over in stark contrast from what he was doing to the rest of Sonic's body. The hedgehog on the bottom screamed out in pleasure again,

"Oh, god's! Shadow, I love you!"

Sonic came all over the side of the box and Shadow grunted releasing himself inside of Sonic. At that moment Knuckles burst into the room, fists raised ready to fight,

"Sonic I heard you yell, what's wrong?"

The unfortunate echidna stopped when he was presented with a full view of exactly what Sonic was yelling about. And he could see everything. Knuckles face went completely red, but not just out of embarrassment,

"What the hell is he doing here!?"

Sonic quickly pushed Shadow out of him and attempted to hide behind the crate. Shadow however did not care that he was showing his goods for the world to see, he looked like he was about to commit a murder. Sonic attempted, to no avail, to pull the hog away from line of sight,

"Knuckles, get out!"

The echidna snarled unmoving,

"No! Not until I see this traitor in chains!"

"You are making Sonic uncomfortable, leave!" Shadow growled taking a step forward.

Knuckles stepped forward as well,

"I'm going to get him as far away from you as possible!"

Shadow's eye twitched and he made a guttural noise with his throat,

"Put your hands on him. Go ahead. If you do, you won't be called Knuckles anymore."

Suddenly Rouge popped her head in,

"Hey, what's all the yelling about in here?"

The bat stepped forward and caught full view of the ultimate life forms naked frame,

"Ooh my..."

Shadow spoke to Rouge but made deliberate eye contact with Knuckles,

"It's not like you haven't seen it before."

The bat shot her hands straight up in the air in defense, looking nervously between the two. Knuckles shouted,

"What?!"

"Stop yelling! Everyone." Sonic said standing up from his hiding spot accidentally revealing himself as well. Everyone was staring at the nude hog and all eyes went wide when something white dribbled down his leg. Sonic s face went red as he tried to cover himself with his hands,

"I just want everyone to stop... I just want...," Sonic felt something wet roll down his cheeks, and it wasn't the tears of pleasure from before, "... I... please don't look at me."

Sonic sobbed loudly and fell to his knees. Rouge shot both the males responsible a glare,

"Get out, both of you."

Knuckles couldn't take his eyes off of the crumbling form on the floor. He had never seen Sonic so much as frown let alone cry. He felt a pang of guilt rush though him. And on another more inappropriate note, Knuckles noticed Sonic's body. How had the echidna never noticed how attractive the hedgehog was? Now he felt even worse because of course that's were his head went. Shadow turned to the red one who was still stunned,

"Well?"

With that Shadow disappeared in a flash of light and Knuckles promptly left out the way he came in.

After they were gone Rouge grabbed a towel from one of the crates and wrapped it around the male on the floor. Sonic's erection had resided back into himself, but the mess left behind was still present and his matted fur was exposing his sheath. Rouge sat next to the hero,

"I'm sorry big Blue, you know what they are like."

"I know. I... I've just been through a lot, you know?" Sonic whispered out, "gods listen to me. I sound like a whiny little bitch."

The female hugged Sonic's shoulders,

"No blue, you don't. It's okay to cry."

A few minutes later Knuckles was still standing outside the door to the storage room, wishing there was something he could do. Suddenly another flash and Shadow was standing next to the red male, descent this time. Shadow grabbed one of the confused echidna's dreads and pulled him down the hall,

"Ow, hey let me go, ass hole!"

"Shut your fucking mouth."

Knuckles felt fear run through him with Shadow's tone. The dark hog would occasionally cuss but nothing more than Damn or hell. He was more articulate than dropping F bombs left and right, no Shadow was pissed. He wasn't even yelling anymore. They made their way into another, room this time a tiny broom closet. Shadow closed the door behind them and clicked on the tie that connected to the light. Knuckles was about to defend himself and give Shadow a piece of his mind, but the alien hybrid interrupted,

"Listen. We don't get along, that it just a fact. Our personalities don't mix no matter how hard we try. But for Sonic's sake, can we just pretend that we do or at least ignore each other. Look I'll start. Knuckles, in sorry."

Shadow held his hand out for the other to take it but it was pushed away,

"Don't think I've just glossed over the fact that you are a traitor and that you should not even be here."

"Gods why are you so dense," Shadow rubbed his face, "all I did was leave to find Sonic on my own. Could you blame me. everyone thought I was a spy."

"You were! You were working with Eggman! we saw you!"

"Silence your voice. Do you want Sonic to hear you? Those attacks were not done by me. Eggmans new power allows him some sort of cloning ability. They were fake. You can ask Sonic about it later if you don't believe me. He saw it for himself."

Knuckles looked down in defeat. Had he really misjudged the whole situation; he was supposed to be the commander; a leader; yet he was so blind.

"Sonic has been through a lot. Hell, he has been locked away for the past six months enduring god's know what that he won't talk about because he doesn't like to cause problems and he doesn't show it because he is very good at pretending. The last thing he needs is this. So please..."

shadow held his hand out once more,

"I apologize for the misunderstanding and for pushing your buttons."

Knuckles returned the favor this time,

"Well it is for sonic... I'm sorry for jumping the gun and miss judging you."

Shadow nodded. They were finally getting somewhere. Knuckles made a face as he remembered,

"Wait were lying about rouge seeing you... you know?"

"Knuckles I don't lie. But you don't need to worry. it was a long time ago and an accident. You forget that I lived at club rouge."

Knuckles turned away a little relieved. Shadow turned to the door as well taking in the silence for a moment. The red male nodded to himself and sighed,

"I get it. it's all right."

"Good." Shadow reassured, still looking at the door in the enclosed space. Knuckles absent mindly shook his head,

"Yeah. I mean, I just realized that I might also like guys because Sonic's got a smokin' body, so yeah, it's cool."

Shadow turned his head sharply at the red dimwit.

Sonic had finally stopped crying and decided to leave the room with his towel wrapped around his neck covering his bite mark. So much for a happy anniversary. Sonic thought about what he had said earlier.

_God's shadow, I love you._

He knew he meant it and that scared him. He also knew that Shadow would not stop fighting even after this whole ordeal he would continue. Shadow thought he was untouchable and that spelled disaster. Sonic couldn't handle losing Shadow he couldn't go through believing it was all his fault. Not again. Shadow was the only person that made him feel something now, he couldn't understand why but none of his friends made him feel... anything. Not even Tails who Sonic had gone so far as to forget about finding. His little brother; yet he couldn't bring himself to care. He was a shell. Not a person that felt compassion for so many things that he use to; he was an exoskeleton of that being. He didn't even know why he was crying; perhaps it had been more about the feelings and emotions that shadow was making him feel and how they had ceased. Sonic was broken from his thoughts as knuckles came running towards him, his eye bruised. He didn't look mad though, just concerned,

"Sonic are you alright. I know I don't do this often but, I'm sorry. Shadow explained everything."

Sonic looked to knuckles eye then back to the dark hog trailing behind,

"Apparently."

Knuckles touched his eye then remembered what Sonic was referring to,

"Oh no, that was my fault."

Rouge walked out of the storage room with a wet towel and a comb,

"You two aren't causing any more trouble are you."

Sonic spoke very horse and almost monotone,

"It's alright Rouge. It's fine Knuckles, I forgive you."

Shadow came up to Sonic and placed a hand on his shoulder,

"Do you forgive me?"

Sonic looked to Shadow with tired eyes,

"Of course."

"Commander! Eggman's forces have been sighted!" Gadget shouted from down the hall.

As soon the wolf was a couple feet away from the group, he noticed Sonic and Shadow. The red canine became very bashful all of a sudden,

"Oh, um hello Shadow. S-Sonic, what should we do?"

Sonic immediately turned his frown into his signature smile. He grinned ear to ear and with a thumbs up and said,

"No problem! We got this."

Gadgets face lit up at the sight of his hero's empowering features. The rest of the group shared concerned glances. Knuckles caught Shadows eye to which the hog responded,

"Told you."

Sonic pulled Shadow away from the group as they went to be briefed on the new information. Sonic looked pleading,

"Shadow, I want you to sit this one out."

Shadow blinked at the male,

"But... I mean… I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I'm kind of a valuable asset to the group."

"Yeah but they have me now, no point in both of us going out."

Shadow cocked a brow at the lack of logic behind the statement,

"Sonic if anyone needs to stay behind its you."

Sonic shook his head and adopted a mean look that threw shadow off,

"Look just listen to me alright."

Shadow didn't know how to respond to the blue male's sudden mood swing,

"Sonic..."

Sonic changed his face yet again and gave a sad puppy appearance,

"Please Shadow. Just this time."

Shadow softened his features. How could he say no to Sonic? Even if it was an odd request. Shadow wrapped Sonic in a hug and squeezed tight. It was his fault anyway that sonic had been taken, Shadow thought to himself.


	5. Somethings' Not Right

I cant believe not to long ago i was terrified of writing and uploading sexual content, and now its like boom! there it is.

i'm going to go ahead and give a warning; there are abuse themes in this. I am NOT glorifying abuse. In fact i am trying to convey how harmful it is to demand so much from someone to make yourself feel better and how manipulation, even if not fully intended, can hurt the ones you love.Thanks for reading and as always feed back is much appreciated.

...

Ch 5. Somethings' Not Right

Sonic was laying on his back, legs in the air as Shadow pounded his pelvis into the hero. Shadow was wearing his new G.U.N uniform at Sonic's request and the dark male's member was presented through the open zipper. Sonic was naked except for the aviators that the blue hog had placed on his head. Sonic grabbed his legs and pulled them behind his head and winked at Shadow while out of breath. Shadow about lost it right there. It had been a couple days since the couple's anniversary and in that time, Shadow had noticed that his lover's libido had skyrocketed. Every second they were alone Sonic was trying to jump him. As much as Shadow loved Sonic and Sonic's body, he couldn't help but feel like something was off.

Sonic had also convinced him to stay and help out around the base. He would help the rookies and Amy keep things under control but Shadow felt that that's not where he should be. However, whenever he would bring this to Sonic's attention the hog would become angry or cry. Shadow felt Sonic was in pain but couldn't get him to talk and instead gave in to his love's whims. Sonic had him wrapped around his finger.

Sonic screamed out,

"Harder!"

Shadow did as he was told and went harder.

Sonic wailed,

"Faster!"

Shadow complied yet again.

Sonic shouted,

"Right there!"

Shadow was at Sonic's call.

With a yelp Sonic came all over Shadow's chest and Shadow buried himself deep within the love addict and released as well.

They both laid in the abandoned weapons room on the floor. Sonic was playing with Shadow's chest fluff and if the dark male was going off of the past few days, then he was fully expecting Sonic to want to go for a round three soon. Shadow held Sonic in his arms like a child,

"Sonic I want to talk with you."

Sonic giggled and took his index finger and trailed it down to Shadow's neater regions,

"About what."

"About what happened to you" Shadow said carefully.

Sonic pursed his lips and huffed,

"Not this again."

Shadow pulled away to get a good look at Sonic's face. He looked annoyed and rolled his eyes. Shadow attempted to be stern but failed miserably. Sonic rolled over and mounted the male,

"I told you it's fine don't worry about it. Just worry about this."

Sonic took Shadow's hand and lead it to his waistline and then took the other and brought it to his rear. Sonic smiled sickly sweet and Shadow knew those words couldn't be true, but god's damn it, Sonic was just too convincing.

"Don't you think we've done it enough; we should be focusing on the war effort right now?"

"When everyone else wants me to do something they will tell me." Sonic rolled his hips ushering out a growl from the male underneath him.

Shadow grabbed Sonic's sides with both hands to stop the promiscuous hog. Sonic looked down in anger,

"What?"

"Don't you think we need to be a little more proactive?" Shadow said calmly.

Sonic raised his voice and pointed back and forth between them,

"_We,_ don't need to do anything. You know how I feel about you going into battle."

Shadow could feel Sonic becoming emotionally unstable again,

"I just think that we could have things move along faster for everyone if we combine our forces."

Sonic began to shake but then he hung his head low and started to cry. Shadow held Sonic close to his chest and smoothed out his quills,

"Shh... it's alright I'm here, I know your worried but I'll be fine, trust me."

Sonic shot back up with rage behind his green eyes. In fact, Shadow was a little taken back by the color. Once they had been warm and shown brighter than the master emerald, but in that moment, they were a cold, forest green. Shadow had not ever notice Sonic's eyes to do this before, but he did know that irises changing colors slightly was a normal phenomenon among both Mobians and humans. Sonic grabbed Shadow's shoulders,

"No. That's final I don't want to talk about it anymore."

The dark hero held Sonic's hands,

"Please talk to me."

"It's my business! Gods! I'm fine!" Sonic yelled in Shadow's face, "and I swear Shadow, if you go out into battle, I won't forgive you."

Shadow froze under the angered hog. Was Sonic threatening to break up with him? Shadow had never felt so confused in Sonic's presents before. Just as the dark male was about to say something Sonic leaned down and planted a soft kiss on his cheek,

"Shadow I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell like that. Let's just forget about this. Here I'll suck you off."

"Sonic I... I forgive you, but that isn't nes- ah!"

Without another warning Sonic's mouth was on him trying to bring his member back to life. Shadow looked down at the hog who was at crotch level. Sonic looked up to him with a mischievous grin and a winked. Lords, Shadow thought, I'm gonna need some help.

...

"God's Shadow your treating him like he is made of glass." Rouge said sitting across from the male eating her rations.

Shadow looked off to the side with a concerned expression,

"He was tortured for six months and won't tell me what's happened. Yeah, I'm afraid he will break."

Rouge placed her chin in her hand,

"Honey it sounds like he already has and you aren't helping the situation by enabling him."

"I just don't want him to hate me. To think I'm insensitive to his problems when he has always been there for mine."

"Well letting him walk all over you and engaging in risky behavior hasn't made him better. If he won't talk right now, he will eventually if he truly loves you. I'm not going to lie it's going to be hard. And he will probably say things he doesn't mean. But you have to put your foot down."

Shadow didn't know what to do. He honestly was at a loss. He had wanted to seek help from his friend but all she could tell him was to face it head on. Rouge sensed that Shadow was in deep thought,

"I mean, yeah, he is obviously using sex as an escape, but I mean, he isn't being abusive is he?"

"No no, Sonic hasn't harmed me."

Rouge squinted questioningly at the male,

"Hun, abuse isn't only physical."

Suddenly, Charmy Bee burst through the doors and fanatically buzzed about,

"Shadow! Do you know where Sonic is?"

"Most likely resting up for the next mission. Why?" Shadow answered the small insect that he oddly found endearing. The young bee had always commented on how _cool_ he thought the ultimate life form was and Shadow was not about to argue.

"It's Tails! He's back!"

...

Everyone was anticipating the big reunion. They all waited patiently for the fox's return and kept a close eye on the blue hog that stood in the middle of it all. Whispers could be heard, taking bets on which one would cry first. Shadow stood off to the side not wanting to get in the way or distract from the emotional event. All heads turned when the unmistakable sound of twin tails, helicoptering toward the group, was heard.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted exploding into the room with the happiest smile.

"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed but stayed stationary.

The fox flew to his brother and grabbed his shoulders looking excitedly into his brother's eyes, but all he saw was hollowness. The rest of the attendees gawked in aww of the strangely mild display, but didn't know quite what to say. Sonic quickly redirected his attention to the other figure who had also entered the room. For some reason the younger Sonic from another dimension was there as well, and instead of acknowledging Tails further, Sonic quipped and made a lame joke in his usual rehearsed fashion. The fox stepped back to the sidelines with Shadow and stared the blue male down. Shadow looked concerned,

"Tails?"

"What's wrong with Sonic?" the boy asked not taking his eyes off his brother.

Shadow paused for a moment taking in the situation,

"Sonic's going through… something. I'm not sure myself but it will sort itself out. There is no need to worry."

Tails finally turned away and began to head down one of the joining hallways,

"Well, I'm just glad he's okay… That's all that matters."

Shadow watched the fox carefully. Shadow was sharp and caught the few tears in the young boys eyes as he turned,

"You're very strong Tails…"

Tails stopped facing away from the older Mobian,

"Thanks… that means a lot coming from you Shadow."

And without another word Tails continued on.

...

Shadow winced from over stimulation,

"Sonic, we already went a few rounds this morning, now this. I don't think I have it in me anymore."

Sonic got on all fours, while in between Shadow's legs. A vacant stare came over the hog as he was in deep thought. Shadow watched the hero carefully, trying to gauge his mood. He would have insisted that Sonic be discussing his behavior toward Tails, but after the argument that morning, Shadow decided it was best to put it off at least till the next day.

"Oh, well. Then maybe I can top this time."

Shadow blushed wildly,

"Sonic… That's fine with me if you want to try that, but I thought you preferred being… bottom."

"Hey I can mix it up every now and then if you're tired."

Without waiting for a response Sonic was stretching Shadow with his fingers. Shadow's breath hitched at the strange new sensation and pulled himself up further to see what Sonic was doing. The blue male's fingers were wedged deep within Shadow, spreading him at a rapid, impatient pace. The speedster was not taking his time by no means. Shadow was tired, and he felt like this new experience should be exciting and invigorating, but all it felt like was chore. Sonic pulled his fingers out and prepared to replace them with his own member. Shadow was worried,

"Sonic, I don't know if I'm- Ah!"

Sonic was already inside but stopped once he heard the cry of pain,

"Oops, sorry Shadow, I guess I got a little carried away. I promise I'll make it better."

Shadow smiled softly at the apology. At least Sonic hadn't meant to hurt him, right? That made it better, right? before long the two hogs were rutting against each other, one howling in pleasure the other wishing for the first time in their relationship, for Sonic to hurry the fuck up.

...

Shadow leaned against the wall in the main control room, trying to figure what to do out in his head. He had honestly forgotten how stressful love can be. It was almost four in the morning and Sonic had already long since gone to bed. It seemed that all the hog did know a day was go on the occasional mission, sleep, and use Shadow's body to his disposal. The dark hero rubbed his forehead, he was feeling a migraine coming on. He heard footsteps approach his side and looked to the one invading his space.

"You're still up?" Knuckles whispered, standing in the dark lit room.

"Yes. And I see you have failed to retire for the night as well." Shadow stated barley acknowledging the echidna.

Knuckles rolled his amethyst irises,

"actually, I have group ready to go out on a stealth mission to infiltrate one of Eggman's factories. Since you're up and not tending to Sonic, do you want in?"

Shadow squinted his eyes questioningly at the red male. What did he mean by tending to Sonic, what was this red doofus implying? Wait, did he say mission? Knuckles spoke up again due to the awkward pause,

"We could really use you, as much as I hate to say it."

Shadow desperately wanted to be of use to the force but he had told Sonic… The blue hero would be very cross if he found out that Shadow went out on a mission without his permission. What was Shadow saying, he was the ultimate; he didn't need permission. But then again what if Sonic did something drastic.

"I'll go, but Sonic can't know."

Knuckles looked the dark male up and down,

"Why?"

Shadow sighed and softened his expression, taking the echidna by surprise. The look almost made Knuckles feel sympathy for the hog, like he could relate to this alien Mobian hybrids internal struggles all of a sudden.

"Sonic is… acting very strange as of late. He doesn't want me out on the field, let's leave it at that."

"Yeah I kind of picked that up. Don't worry, if you help me out, your secret is safe with me."

...

Knuckles, Shadow, and a small group of rookies gathered outside a huge factory building in the middle of the jungle. All members of the impromptu team hid behind foliage awaiting their next orders from their commander. Knuckles whipped his head around from peeking around the corner,

"This is perfect. The guards are only the egg pawns, we can easily sneak by those. Alright I'll take private Perry and Percy with me to watch your back, while you and Gadget infiltrate the building. Once inside see if my sources were correct; look for a massive energy source, then report back to me. got it?"

Shadow nodded and the red wolf silently saluted. Both teams disappeared to their respective assignments. Shadow watched for any unwanted eyes while Gadget got a thermal reading on the other side of the wall. Shadow eyed the young wolf looking for the go ahead. Gadget replied with a thumbs up. Shadow grabbed a hold of the other and Chaos controlled into what seemed to be a holding room for the, mass produced, egg pawns. There must have been thousands upon thousands of them; it was a good thing that they were as dumb as rocks and all inactive. Suddenly Shadow felt a flash of energy shoot through his head. It was painful and the dark male grabbed his aching skull. Gadget looked on in concern, not wanting to say anything, so he would not give away their location. Shadow regained his composure and pointed down a hallway. They both snuck their way through the factory undetected but it wasn't easy. There were cameras and laser traps everywhere. One thing was certain; whatever was held in here was very important.

Finally, they stumbled upon a large open room lined with empty capsules. Shadow studied one until he realized where he had seen something like this before. It was just like the devise Tails used when he made fake emeralds. But the doctor had shown that he had no desire for the emeralds, so what had he been constructing. A tap on Shadow's shoulder broke him from his thoughts. Gadget motioned to another capsule in the center of the room but this one was far bigger than the rest and inside held another one of those rubies just like the one that jackal had. But this one had a bad feeling attached to it. almost like it… knew they were there.

Fwoosh.

An automatic door flew open and in stepped the devil himself. Infinite walk over to the ruby and stood staring at the red and purple gem. Shadow and Gadget hid behind one of the other capsules; the wolf refused to breath. Shadow stared daggers at the cause of his problems, the destroyer of the planet, the one who harmed his love. He could kill him right now and put an end to all this, Shadow internalized. But no, he knew it wouldn't be that simple. Infinite turned curtly looking out into the supposedly empty room. The jackal walked forward and stopped once he came to the capsule that the pair were hiding behind,

"I know you're there…"

The masked Mobian quickly turned to catch the intruders, but there was no one there; only the afterglow of a short flash of light.

...

Once back at the base Shadow explained what they had seen to Knuckles. The echidna would have to consult with Tails about their findings, but he was visibly pleased with the outcome regardless. All members of the stealth mission returned to their respective rooms. Shadow decided to head back to where Sonic was as well, but a voice caught him off guard,

"And where the hell have you been?"

Shadow turned to see Sonic standing against the wall that Shadow had been previously that night. Sonic stepped away from the brick and locked cold eyes with Shadow,

"Well? Start talking."


	6. Enough is Enough

Notes: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. i'm sure a lot of people have forgotten about this and honestly school and life made me a little burnt out on writing, but I promise I live :) also sonic needed some tough love in this chapter. hope you enjoy.

I'm going to start updating with shorter chapters to get them out more frequently and so I don't get burnt out.

Ch. 6 Enough Is Enough

Shadow could sense the darkness growing within his lover. A feeling of dread took over the striped hog as the smaller yet more intimidating hedgehog approached him. Sonic pointed a finger and pressed it to the fluff on Shadow chest roughly and spat venom from his tongue,

"What the hell is wrong with you? Talk!"

Sonic's fur suddenly darkened along with his words and his eyes had a glint of poison green. Shadow huffed under his breath slightly annoyed but also concerned. His tired eyes looked his supposed boyfriend up and down,

"Sonic I… I couldn't stand by any longer and not help."

Knuckles spoke up at that moment, hoping to diffuse the argument that he had apparently caused,

"Hey man, I guilt tripped him into it. blame me not-"

"Shut up! Stay out of this. Mind your own business for once in your life!"

Sonic's harsh words rang out throughout the base causing Knuckles to stager back and a few bystanders to come running to see what all the ruckus was about. Shadow looked to Knuckles who looked back at him in shock. The dark hero's blood was boiling. Shadow never yelled, he could be angry and aloof yes, but he rarely raised his voice. Now would be an exception. If Sonic was going to be nasty, I can play that game too, Shadow thought, I'll show him how nasty I can be!

"Sonic! Sit down before I make you."

Sonic scoffed and prodded his finger at the white chest once more,

"Ha! Yeah right, I'd like too-"

Suddenly Sonic was stepping back as Shadow used is slight height difference to his advantage, gaining the upper ground. He leered over Sonic; blood red irises burrowing holes into the now neon green ones. Shadow grabbed Sonic's arm and yanked him away from the growing crowd.

"Ow! Hey don't touch me ass hole!"

Shadow drug Sonic to back to the room where they had shared there anniversary together and locked the door to ensure complete privacy,

"It's funny! When I say don't touch me, you do it anyway… all the time."

Sonic looked as though he was about to say something but then a flash of guilt crossed his face. The blue male quickly shook his head,

"That's not the point of this! You lied to me!"

"And you have been lying to me every day since you got back! You are not fine! a blind person could see that, everyone knows, the only person you are fooling is yourself!," Shadow yelled with bared fangs at his love, "Because I helped, we may have found the power source behind Infinite, we actually did find Infinite himself, and if I had not have been there, that entire squad, including Knuckles, would have most likely been caught and killed!"

Sonic snarled and opened his mouth to say something but was roughly grabbed by the shoulders and pinned to the wall. Shadow got into the blue hero's face heated breath and demon eyes inches away from his muzzle,

"Shut up! I dare you to tell me I'm wrong! Don't you see that we made so much progress in just one night by me helping. What is it going to take to get that though your thick skull? Don't you feel ashamed that you have caused this delay in ending this war because you are too damn proud?"

Sonic shook and started to cry. Shadow laughed causing the pinned hedgehog to stop,

"Your crocodile tears will not save you this time. I've had enough! Sonic… you have miss treated me."

Now a genuine look of worry spread to Sonic's face,

"What?"

Shadow lowered his voice but still held his dominate stance,

"Sonic, you have been using me and my emotions, you have been purposefully manipulating me and using me like a pawn, and I'm not going to let it happen anymore. I'm sorry…"

Sonic breathed out a shaky breath and his fur and eyes slowly started to return to normal. All the life was being suck out of him,

"No…"

Shadow pushed his hands away from the wall and took a step back,

"You have not been taking my feelings into account and I know you went through something horrible that you still refuse to disclose to me, but that doesn't give you the right to… abuse me."

Sonic filched at the words. Had he really been abusive? was that what he had done to Shadow? The person that he loved; that was the only thing he cared about for the past six months. Had he been hurting him, when Shadow deserved nothing but love, especially given what the dark male had been though in the past?

"I love you," Shadow continued, "but I am at the end of my rope. I came up with an ultimatum. Either you let me help you or seek help from someone else, **or** I can't continue this relationship. Maria wanted to protect this planet and… you are hindering me from doing so."

Both hogs stood in silence for what seemed to be forever. Shadow patiently awaited a reply. Sonic now had real tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. Shadow ignored them and stood strong.

"Shadow… please don't… I love you. I'm sorry… please. I can't…"

Shadow turned and unlocked the door. He turned his head slightly to Sonic,

"Come to me when you figure it out, till then sayonara, Sonic the hedgehog."

Sonic fell to his knees just as Shadow closed the door behind himself. He couldn't bear to see Sonic break down, if he did, he may not be strong enough to let it happen. Shadow turned to the left to find a sheepish looking bat with a bump on her forehead from where the door had hit her,

"You did the right thing, Shadow."

Meanwhile Knuckles and Amy stood at the main console overlooking the new information they had gathered. The readings that gadget had taken from the gem in the egg base where off the charts and sporadic. Even the Chaos Emeralds didn't have this much… well, chaos to them.

"One thing's for sure it's not good, I say we break in and smash it." Knuckles stated throwing a fist in the air.

Amy huffed,

"And how do you know you could even break that thing or that it won't explode or something."

Suddenly a two tailed fox appeared from the entrance way. The pink female clasped her hands,

"Ah, Tails! A voice of reason. What do you think?"

Tails approached the key board and began entering code, pulling up all kinds of diagnostics,

"Well… I don't know if it will explode but… it does seem to be linked to all the other gems in the room, kind of like a hive mind. My guess is that the one in the center is the original and all the others are synthetic copies created by Eggman. That being said that gem is awfully similar to the one Infinite has in his chest."

Both Amy and Knuckles looked at each other in aw,

"So that mean that if we control the original, we could potentially control Infinite's powers?"

"It's just a theory. I'll have to examine these reading further, but right now I was looking for Sonic. Do you know where he is?"

Knuckles looked to the ground with a worried expression.

A pitiful blue form lay curled up in a ball, holding his knees to his chest as he sobbed. His heart hurt. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt. The worst part was, it was all his fault. He clenched his chest with his hand and cried out a string of repeated words that served no purpose but to alleviate some of the pain,

"Shadow I'm sorry. Please. I didn't mean too. I love you. please. I didn't mean too. Don't leave me alone. Please."

The door to the supply room slowly opened reviling the silhouette of what Sonic hoped was his former love, but it was not. Tails stood in the door way with a blank expression.

"Stand up Sonic… get off the ground. You're not helpless, you never have been."

The coldness in the younger male's voice sent chills down Sonic's spine and he did as he was told.

"Wipe your eyes." The way Tails was commanding and was taking charge reminded Sonic of Shadow.

The fox looked over his brother for a moment before suddenly speaking,

"Shadow has not left you… **yet**. Your friends have not left you… **yet. **I have not left you, and I never will. But I will not sugar coat what you have done. You have pushed everyone away, including me. You have been terrible to the one person that has stuck with you, and you have come to neglect the world around you. You are strong Sonic but this is something you need help with. You have changed and you know it. Shadow wants to help you; he has been there for you since day one. You don't understand how much he loves you, now the real test… do you love him enough to pull your head out of your ass and seek help?"

Sonic stared at the young man before him, wondering how he had managed to get one thing right in his life. Sonic nodded his head,

"Thank you, Tails."


	7. A Helping Hand

Ch 7 A Helping Hand

A group of Mobians gathered around Amy, Tails and Knuckles forming a semi-circle. Tails was in charge of pulling up visuals on the main monitor, while the two commanders explained the next mission. Shadow stood off by himself in the back, silently taking in the information.

"- and you all will be split up into teams. You will answer only to your designated commanding officer. Team quake will consist of Bree, Max, Hazel, and myself. While Team Rose will have-"

Shadow drifted off to his own thoughts while he noticed Tails had said nothing the entire meeting. This would not have been to concerning except the young boy wore a stone face and tired yes. He was obviously emotionally drained but still holding it together. This impressed Shadow, especially since the two tailed fox tended to were his heart on his sleeve. Shadow was snapped from his thought as an over exaggerated authoritarian voice said,

"and team control will have gadget, Griffin, Candie, and you will be led by commander Shadow."

Shadow would have done a spit take if he had been drinking. Commander Shadow? I can't be in charge of some kids; I shouldn't be allowed to be in charge of anyone, he thought to himself, I am a terrible influence.

With that the meeting was over and his team gathered around Shadow and saluted their commander. Shadow looked over his team. There was the red wolf that had been with him when he found infinite, at least he knew this one was reliable, he couldn't quit say the same for the other two though. The next was a bird with dark purple feathers, and a nervous expression as he shook staring at Shadow. The one next to him was a small, strawberry blonde, mouse girl who looked just as nervous in the dark hog's presence. Only now did Shadow realize he was glaring at all of them in silence. Oops, Shadow thought, he didn't mean to scare them, he can't help it if he has resting bitch face as Sonic calls it.

"At ease." Shadow said casually.

They all dropped their hands and Griffin and Candie sighed in relief. Shadow shooed them all away,

"Go prepare for our mission, we leave in five hours."

They ran off in different direction leaving Shadow in the room with only Knuckles, Amy, and Tails.

"Team Control? Commander Shadow?" Shadow said dead panning at the three.

Tails snorted to himself half-heartedly while Knuckles scoffed,

"Wasn't my choice. I wanted to call it team hot topic, but Amy said no."

Shadow smirked and turned his head to the pink girl, giving her a quick wink,

"Well I suppose I'm lucky Miss Rose is a decent person."

Amy giggled and Knuckles rolled his eyes. Shadow slowly dropped his confident smirk and replaced it with concern.

"Don't worry Shadow. You are a natural leader; your team will be fine." The fox at the desk suddenly spoke up.

The others glanced between the two and Shadow looked to the floor,

"I just don't know how I feel about being responsible for theses soldier's lives…"

Suddenly another form entered the room from behind Shadow,

"Hey guys. You mind if I steal Shadow for a bit?"

Shadow didn't look at the owner of the familiar voice, he honestly wasn't expecting a response from the blue hero so soon, but this was Sonic he was talking about.

"You have five hours," Tails said, "Then Shadow has a mission."

"Cool… um Shadow? Do you mind speaking with me?"

Shadow finally turned to the other hog with a composed, blank face,

"Not at all."

Sonic and Shadow walked outside the bunker into an open field. The swaying grass and smell of fresh dew almost made one forget that the world was at war. Shadow took in Sonic's appearance as the blue hog lead the way. his quills shined against the morning sun and he looked like he had some sort of plan in that head of his. Sonic stopped walking and turned quickly on his heel to face Shadow,

"Fight me."

"I'm sorry. What?" Shadow said baffled.

"I want to fight you. like old times."

Shadow blinked at the love of his life and then turned to walk away. Sonic reached out for Shadow,

"Hey where are you going?"

"I'm not going to entertain… whatever this is. I told you to make a decision and you obviously choose to continue your ignoring of the problems, only with an immature twist."

Sonic zipped around the dark male and stopped him in his tracks, arms out stretched,

"No no no. that's not what this is about. You didn't let me finish. I want you to fight me if I win we let this all go if you win I'll tell you… everything."

Shadow looked disturbed,

"Sonic… we are not letting this go."

"Fight me and win then."

"No!"

"Hit me!"

"No!

"You know you want to!"

"No I don't! well, yes I do, but that doesn't mean I should act on it."

Sonic reared back a fist and trough it. The hit intentionally missed; landing right beside Shadows head, grazing his cheek fur. Shadow stared daggers at the hog and Sonic snarled his nose at the other,

"Coward…"

Suddenly fists were flying. They tore up the earth they stood on. They toppled trees and overturned rocks. Shadow landed a few good hits on Sonic while the other hedgehog seemed to be playing more on the side of defense. It was only when Shadow easily managed to pin Sonic and take a few swings did he notice that the blue hero was letting him… win. Shadow stopped mid punch and analyzed Sonic's bruised face. A trickle of blood ran down his nose,

"Why did you stop?"

"You don't want to fight. You want me to beat you up."

Sonic chuckled softly,

"You figured it out. I knew you wouldn't just hit me, at least not without a purpose or a goal."

"Why?" Shadow said still over Sonic.

"Because I wanted you to hurt me like I hurt you. I deserve it. and I knew you probably had some pent-up aggression so…"

"Sonic! You are an idiot! Do you honestly think that an eye for an eye makes it better? The reason I don't respond with violence anymore is because I've grown and matured, you should try it sometime. I don't want to make you feel my pain! I want to help you with yours!"

Sonic averted his gaze from the dark male,

"I just keep fucking up huh?"

Shadow sighed,

"Sonic… I know your heart was in the right place"

Both hogs sat up in the field letting the wind blow through their quills. Sonic took a nearby stick and started to draw in the dirt,

"Well you did win. So, can I tell you what happened to me now?"

Shadow guessed Sonic had decided after all. The hybrid smiled with half lid eyes,

"Of course."

Sonic told Shadow everything. From the confined space to the psychological torture. Sonic held it together until it became too much. He sobbed as he spoke,

"And you… well the illusion of you, would ask me to kill you at least once a day. And… and I knew y-you were in pain b-but I just couldn't… I didn't know what to do, and on top of all that the fake you would tell me that you hated me because I was hurting you."

Sonic burst into real tears for the first time since he had returned and Shadow held him in his arms. Shadow rocked Sonic as he reflected on the new information. Dear gods, Shadow thought, Sonic had been holding all of that in this whole time; that was all something from a horror film.

"Sonic, thank you for telling me. I'm here to help you, but I don't believe I'm entirely qualified. Would you care to meet with a friend of mine?"

Sonic wiped his eyes,

"If I wouldn't tell you what makes you think I'd tell some random person?"

"I'm asking you to trust me. She is a professional."

Sonic looked questioningly,

"It's not Rouge, right?"

"Shadow laughed softly,

"No, it's not. In fact, we can probably meet with her tonight if you come with my team to the human base."

"You knew I'd choose you, didn't you." Sonic said rolling his eyes.

"No, I hoped and prayed. And planned for the best."

They walked back into the bunker meeting up with Amy Knuckles and Tails once more. All heads turned to stare at the pair holding hands. Tails smiled and then went back to typing away at the computer he was sitting at.

"Knuckles account the mission for another member on team control."

Knuckles smiled and nodded his head. Sonic cocked a brow,

"Team Control?"

"Yes, my team of rookies."

"Shadow is a commander now." Amy giggled into her hand.

"oooooh really?" Sonic said as a smug gin filled his features.

Gods, Shadow missed him.

"Yes, well I am the responsible one here." Shadow retorted with a loving stare to his boyfriend.

Team Control made it to the G.U.N base without incident. The three rookies fallowed behind Shadow and Sonic silently. The mission was to negotiate with the human government and then ask for assistance in infiltrating a nearby hot spot. Sonic turned to the newbies,

"Alright me and Shadow are going to talk to the big cheese. You all hang back and wait for the word."

All three stared at Sonic and then with nervous confused faces looked to Shadow. Gadget was the one to speak up,

"um well Mr.… Sonic sir, commander Knuckles gave us strict instruction to answer to commander Shadow only. I mean n-no dis respect sir, I just- well I mean- "

Shadow stopped the stuttering wolf,

"No need to be nervous. And what Sonic said applies. We will be back."

The three wiped the sweat from their brows as the hogs walked away.

Sonic and Shadow finished speaking with commander Topaz and gave their team orders to prep for attack. Shadow then took Sonic's hand and led him down the hall,

"Come with me."

Sonic nodded and allowed himself to be taken to this mysterious destination. Shadow turned into a room with an open door with boxes stacked within. Sitting at a make shift desk looking over ration distributing papers was a small older woman, with brown mousy hair. The lady noticed the two and greeted them both with a bright smile,

"Hello, Sonic it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Shadow motioned to the human,

"Sonic, this is Dr. Julia Baker. She has helped me in the past, I'm confident she can help you."

Notes:

That's right. I've merged my two story's universes ;) If you don't know who Dr Baker is check out my other story "Me and The boys" its not necessarily a sonadow story but it delves into shadows character and you can look at it as a sort of prequal to the sonadow saga.


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